World Famous Comics: Ultimate X-Men Vol. 18: Apocalypse (v. 18)
Ultimate X-Men Vol. 18: Apocalypse (v. 18)
By: Robert Kirkman Publisher: Marvel Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Marvel Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 120 Publication Date: August 13, 2008
Product Description: The sinister Shadow King is desperate to escape from the mental prison he was placed in centuries ago - and he'll destroy Storm to do it! But will his freedom also unleash the horrifying swarm of the alien Brood? And will even the X-Men be enough to battle a being who has plotted our death and destruction for ages? Collects Ultimate X-Men #89-93.
A fun read until the end. *SOME SPOILERS* I don't know much about Apocalypse from the comics, but some from the two different cartoon series I've seen him in. Alright, so Ultimate Apocalypse works. Very cool villain for the Ultimate series. The arc should've been longer, though. The first chapter or so was a mini Shadow King thing. Not very interesting at all. I mean, they were building this up and it kind of falls flat here.
Well, that's okay, because the rest of the book is pretty cool...until the end.
***SPOILER ALERT!***
Right, my biggest problem with this particular collection of UXM is the end. Big powerful guy, can't be beaten by the X-men, so instead of coming up with a good way to beat him, the ending is thrown at us to wrap it up quickly. Jean Grey becomes The Phoenix (which they've been leading up to...being The X-men, it was inevitable, anyway) and she threatens to melt him. This is one of those things she could've done a while back and the thing would've been like a chapter long. It was so easy. Apoc. barely had a chance to fight back. Pitiful.
And then to make matters worse, Phoenix erased part of all of this. Apoc. appearing, plus Professor X disappearing. It was worse than the whole "One More Day" arc of Spider-Man...and that was bad considering it undid about 20 years of Amazing Spider-Man. This wasn't executed NEARLY as well. And was poor planning.
With a different ending and maybe a chapter or two extra devoted to this arc, it would've been good. But instead it was only partially enjoyable. I don't know...if you're a collector, you should get it, but if you don't care see if you can borrow it or get it from a library because it's not worth it if you just want to read it. Being a collector of Ultimate X-men, I bought it. Not really regretting it, but wishing it was better.
The main problem with the Ultimate universe I was reviewing an Ultimate Fantastic Four volume and started thinking about one of the main problems I have with the Ultimate universe line: that so many characters and events are brought about because it seems like the writers have to mirror what's happened in the original 616 universe. And not only are they brought to mirror 616, but characters are killed off or storylines are resolved so fast that there's little reason to care.
This volume is the best example I can think of. In the 616 Apocalypse is a major villain. He does not appear every other month with a standard scheme for a major heist or conquering the world or whatever. He is the type of character that figures in major crossovers and world-changing events.
He is one of the oldest and most powerful mutants on Earth. He is brilliant, devious, and patient. He plots, gathers followers, lays the seeds for his plans and brings them about at the proper time.
He does not simply get a guy to kill some people, make an appearance, and then start trying to take over the world.
And he does NOT get dispatched two issues after appearing by a deus ex machina.
Kirkman is a good writer, I loved Marvel Zombies and when I eventually check out Walking Dead I have high hopes. But what the hell? In previous volumes he introduced Ultimate Cable and Bishop and Stryfe and those stories were pretty solid. They suffer from "writing for the TPB," where a two issue storyline is stretched out to four or five because of decompression, but that's more common than not nowadays so I'm not faulting Kirkman there.
But at least they built up the characters and laid the ground for a future story (the first appearance of Apocalypse). So why is the culmination of the set-up (which goes back to Brian K. Vaughn's introduction of Mr. Sinister) so abrupt, so pointless?
I know Apocalypse can be brought back somewhere down the line, I'm pretty much expecting it. But what was the point of this story? Why bother introducing one of the most powerful villains in 616 and treat him like nothing?
Even Bendis can convey the level of danger that a regular human like Kingpin represents to Spider-Man. Apocalypse as a threat to the X-Men should have been so greater.
It's one of the most frustrating things about the Ultimate line, no villain is an ongoing threat. They're either killed or disposed of after one or two appearances.
Your wrong! Its great! First of all let me say this. I think Robert Kirkman has saved the Ultimate X-men!!
This story arc is awesome. There is action on every page! And cop-out? The man (Kirkman) left both stories open ended for a possibility for these great historic villains to maybe and hopefully come back in the future.
This story follows right after the Cable/ Sentinel sagas (which is another great X-men story) and gets right to it. The X-men are disbanded Bishop is leading the new field team. And we all know who's coming! Apocalypse! Probably one of the greatest villains in the Marvel U! But that's not all, The Shadow King play Storm has been writing threw the whole Ultimate X-men history turns out to be real! He's real! That's right not just Apocalypse but The Shadow King too, and he's bringing the Brood! Action! Action! Action! The remake of old characters is great as well. Strife makes and appearance but he's not the long lost future son of Scott and Jean, Onslaut shows up looking much cooler than the original. And then they all have to get together to battle Apocalypse! (Also sporting a great new look) This fight scene also includes The Ultimate Fantastic Four, The Ultimate Morlocks and S.H.I.E.L.D. how do you not love this story all ready.
I would suggest this story to anyone wh
A big let-down This is a real mishmosh. The art isn't anything special and doesn't flow very well. The first issue, about Ororo and the Shadow King, makes next to no sense and answers almost no questions about anything. And the Apocalypse arc should have been either greatly expanded -- or scrapped. The ending reeks of deus ex machina. A number of great, classic X-Men stories have been rolled up and squashed into one convoluted storyline that's hard to follow. Marvel needs some better writers on UXM, fast, or they need to drop the book completely.
Apocalypse - Who Cares? The Ultimate run on the X-men has been consistently exciting - until now. This uneven collection of issues is arguably the weakest X-men title I've read for some time and unworthy of the high standards the book has set. Apocalypse is a cliche, and there's really nothing interesting about reading a story that you can figure out, or where the outcome doesn't matter. The colours and style of this issue aren't quite as gripping either. Marvel needs to rest the X-men or find better storytellers. Or as they've done time and time again, resurrect Magneto - the Marvel universe is desperately short of new villains and this shows why. The Civil War was the best thing to happen to the Marvel universe by showing them that the worst enemy lay within themselves. The X-men need new stories and ideas badly...having Phoenix and Prof X come to the rescue doesn't cut it anymore.
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